Every offseason leading to the NFL Draft, experts rank quarterback prospects in tiers.

Suffice it to say, those projections are simply educated guesses. One sixth-round selection in Tom Brady likely wasn't projected as a 'top-tier' quarterback out of college, neither was third-round pick and last season's Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson. Though teams do due diligence, not even they know who has the best potential to lead a franchise to the promised land.

With that in context, a quick gander at the post-Combine mock drafts from prominent sites shows that three have one of 2014's 'top-tier' class of quarterbacks falling to Minnesota at No. 8 in May's NFL Draft (assuming no trades). This year's 'top tier' is widely considered to be Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater and Johnny Manziel.

"Minnesota may not be able to sit here and wait, especially if two quarterbacks come off the board in the top three or four picks. This mock fell perfectly for them, with Bortles available for the taking at No. 8. With Bortles, Cordarrelle Patterson and Adrian Peterson in place, the Vikings would have the makings of an intimidating, balanced offense."

"The Christian Ponder experiment is still fresh in Minnesota but the reality is Ponder's not the guy. It wouldn't be surprising to see Minnesota make a move up the draft to grab a quarterback, but i this scenario they have one fall into their lap."

While NFL.com and CBSSports.com have Bridgewater falling to the Vikings, Sports Illustrated has him going No. 1 overall to the Houston Texans. Bridgewater did not throw at the NFL Combine and will instead show off his arm to scouts at Louisville's Pro Day in March. The hype of May's NFL Draft, Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel, is not No. 1 on any of the three drafts. NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah believes if the draft were to happen today, the Texans would select defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. CBSSports.com's Will Brinson has the Texans selecting UCF's Blake Bortles.